One in 10 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime: WHO
NEW DELHI: One in 10 Indians will develop cancer in their lifetime and one in 15 will die of it, the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) World Cancer Report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said, highlighting the grave risk posed by the illness. The numbers are higher than India’s own internal numbers that say one in nine people have the risk of developing cancer.
“The estimates are marginally different as the IARC modelling is done using Indian Council of Medical Research-National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMRNCRP) data, which is collected from 36 population-based registries and 236 hospital-based registries across states to calculate national estimates and state-wise trends,” said Dr Prashant Mathur, director, ICMR-National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research, which runs NCRP and is working to publish the latest nationwide registry data in April.
The sharpest rise is in cancers of the breast and colorectum, associated with being overweight, low physical activity, and sedentary lifestyles, while cervical cancer rates have fallen because of improved hygiene in most parts of in India, according to the report.
The WHO classifies India’s national cancer registry programme among the world’s “high quality population-based registries”, which is the international gold standard for cancer estimates.
There is massive heterogeneity in cancer incidence across states, said the report, a feature reflected in NCRP data. “Incidence rates are the highest in Mizoram, where one in five men and women are at risk of developing cancer during their lifetimes, while in Barshi, Maharashtra, only one in 22 men and 1 in 18 women are at a lifetime risk,” said Dr Mathur.